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Libraries With Shelf Life

March 21, 2014 8:48 p.m. ET

A few years ago,Robert Dawson took his 24-year-old son on two road trips around the country to photograph hundreds of public libraries—many of which show up in the photographer's new book. As "The Public Library" (Princeton Architectural Press, $35) shows, Mr. Dawson wants to see the libraries—which also serve as monuments, museums and traveling "bookmobiles"—preserved. While documenting libraries over the past 18 years, he's witnessed them change from "being mostly about books" to places also focused on computers, other technology and, more important, local communities. "They're the...